US1183175A - Steam-pump or air-compressor. - Google Patents

Description

K. DOUGAN. sEAM PUMP 0R Am COMPRESSOR.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. I6. 1909. @www v A 9 I E Qa mS EN NGN@ Patented May 16, 1916..

marre -f KENNEDY DOUGAN, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

STEAM-PUMP OR AIR-COMPRESSOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented liiay 16, 1916.

Application filed january 16, 1909. i Serial No. 472,668.

To all 'whom t may concern Be it known that I, KENNEDY DOUGAN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Pumps or Air-Compressors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of this invention is to provide a direct acting steam pump or air compressor in which steam may be expanded in such a manner that the eiiciency will be equal to that of the best type of flywheel steam pump or air compressor.'

A further object is to provide a direct acting pump or air compressor that will oc-` cupy small floor space, and be of comparatively cheap construction, and as compared with other direct acting pumps, will operate without jar or shock.

In the machine herein disclosed, the pistons start gradually, acquire velocity, and come to rest gradually.

In common pumps without fly-wheels the pistons are moving at fullspeed to the end of their stroke, which requires them to be checked suddenly, causing undesirable viA brations. In the invention herein disclosed, steam is admitted to the steam cylinder at boiler pressure and automatically cut off atthe required point to carry the piston'to the end of its stroke. At the beginning of said stroke and up to the point in the stroke where the entire steam pressure on the piston falls, until it only equals the entire re.

sisting pressure on the water or air piston,

the excess 'of energy in the steam end is eX- pended in giving velocity to a heavyweight, connected to the piston rod. The energy thus stored is given out in useful effect in nishing the stroke.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure' 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a direct acting steam pump, disclosing the es-4 sential feature of the invention, a part of the water end being broken away; Fig. 2 isv a vertical cross-section, on a reduced scale, taken on line a-b of Fig. 1.

1 designates, as a whole, the steam cylinder, having the admission ports 2 and 3, and the exhaust ports 4 and 5. Preferably, two 55 separate and independent admission valves are employed, being steam-actuated and having respective pilot valves in housings 6 and 7.

8 and 9 indicate projections on the stems 60 of the pilot valves, adapted to be engaged by valve operating devices 50 and 51.

Before completing a description of the steam apparatus, the salient feature of the construction will be described. This -consists of a heavy weight, 10*12, secured to the piston rod 13 but supported in such a way that no part of its weight is borne by said rod. As shown, the weight is provided with a roller 14 that rests upon a track '70 beam 15, the ends of which are supported by the cylinders of the pump, or in 'any preferred way. The piston rod 13 passes through the center' of the weight 10-12, which is shown as cast in two parts, 10 and 75 12 one of which is laterally removable. Said parts are secured together by `bolts 16. The entire weight' may be installed or removed without disturbing the piston rod. Said rod may be enlarged, as shown at 13', and 80 the bore of the weight correspondingly enlarged, to prevent any slippage of the weight upon the rod. The cylinder 17 may be that of any reciprocating pump or air compressor. 'Ihe valve-operating members S5 50 and 51 may conveniently be mounted on rods 18, 19, secured to projections on or of the weight 10-12. rfhe device 50 is pivoted to a sleeve 52 and the device 51 is pivoted to a sleeve 53 slidable on the rod 19, said 90 sleeves being adjustably connected by a lazy-tong construction 5a and held in iXed position'by an arm 55 held by means of a sleeve 56 and set screw 57 fast upon rod 18.

Means should be provided within the steam cylinder for cushioning the piston. I have devised and shown herein, certain means for providing steam cushionsfor the piston'without involving any added clearance during normal operation. The normal stroke of the piston is between the inner ends of ythe ports 2 and 3.

24 and 25 are inner, yieldable cylinder heads, whose inner faces lie close to the pis- A if?? ton faces at the ends of the stroke. The chambers 2G, 27 behind said heads may be closed air tight, but it is deemed better to connect said chambers with the steam supply so that steam at boiler pressure will at all times fill them. rlhe pipes 28 and 29 have this function, being connected to the steam-chest 30. Chambers 26, 27 are provided with drain-cocks 81, 32 for water of condensation.

As the piston rod 13 must pass through one of the inner heads, 2l, 25, the construction shown is recommended as providing accessible packings for the piston rod. Head 25 is formed with a sleeve 33, threaded on its outer end to receive an internally threaded stuffing-box 3i. The sleeve passes slidably through the fixed cylinder head, which is provided with a gland 35.

Normally, that is when relativ-e steam and water pressures arc normal, the inner heads will be moved but slightly or not at all, at the ends of the piston strokes. When, however, a relative steam pressure increases or the relative water pressure decreases, the piston may be carried farther, in which case it cannot strike the head 2% or 25 but will highly compress the steam between them and will force the head 2-l or 25 to yield.

The initial movement of the piston will cut off the port to which the pipe 28 or 29 is connected, and the steam being thereby conned in the narrow space between the lixed and movable cylinder heads will offer great resistance to continued motion of the piston. ln addition, exterior buffers may be provided, for example as shown in the drawing. Heads 20 are carried by heavy rods 21 secured to the weight 10-12. Cooperative cylinders 22 are secured to, or cast integral with, the cylinders 1 and 17. The lengths of the rods 21 are such that when the piston stroke does not exceed normal length, the heads 2O will only slightly enter the cylinders, not sufliciently to cause compression kof air therein. The compression will occur whenever the pistons are driven too far either way. rlhus the exterior buffers coact with the interior devices before described, and relieve the cylinder heads of a part of the stress set up by compression of steam.

The invention is not limit-ed to a weight secured directly to the piston rod. The use of a weight in vertical pumps in which the piston is raised by steam and driven down by a weight, is set forth in a separate application for Letters Patent filed January 16th 1909 and bearing Serial No. 473,669.

On the steam cylinder any suitable valve gear may be employed. No special valve gear is shown, as this invention does not relate to that portion of the mechanism. The cutoff isto be so adjusted that the pistons will be driven to the ends of their stroke by the combined forces of steam pressure and momentum -of the moving parts.`

The operation of the pump will be fully understood from what has been said hereinbefore.

I claim:

1. A direct acting steam pump comprising two cylinders, pistons therein, a track above the cylinders bridging the space between the cylinders, an inertia weight between the cylinders, an arm on the weight extending above the track, an anti-friction roller on the arm and resting upon the track thereby suspending a'nd supporting the weight, a piston rod connecting the pistons and extending through the weight, and means connecting the rod to the weight to move the same therewith.

2. A direct acting steam pump, comprising cylinders, pistons therein, a piston rod connecting the pistons, an inertia weight connected to and actuated by said rod, means other than said rod for supporting said weight, buffers exterior to the cylinders of the pump, and means carried by the weight coperating therewith to check the excess movement of the weight.

8. A direct acting steam pump or air compressor, comprising steam and pumping cylinders having their pistons connected by a common piston rod, an inertia weight connected to the rod to be moved thereby, buffer members secured to. said weight, and co-acting buffer members fixed in position to co-act with said members on the weight to check said weight when the piston stroke exceeds the normal.

4. A direct acting steam pump comprising steam and pumping cylinders having their pistons connected by a common piston rod, an inertiaweight connected to said rod for movement therewith, air-cushion members fixed in position adjacent the cylinders, and co-acting piston heads carried on the weight in alinement with said aircushion members and positioned relatively thereto so that when the piston stroke exceeds the normal length, said members will operate to check the movement of the weight. j

5. A steam pump comprising steam and pumping cylinders having their pistons connected by a common piston rod, an inertia weight connected to and actuated by the piston rod, movable cylinder heads in the steam cylinder spaced from the fixed cylinder heads, steam connections entering said spaces between the fixed and movable 'cylinder heads at points just at the limit of the movable heads so that the initial movement thereof Will cut off the steam from he spaces between the fixed and yieldable ieads.

6. A steam pump comprising steam and pumping cylinders having their pistons connected by a common piston rod, an inertia weight independently supported for reciprocation between the cylinders and connectand movable heads at a point just inside of the edge of the movable cylinder head when the same is in its normal or most inward position, so that the initial movement of the yielding heads will cut 0E the steam from the spaces.

7. A steam pump comprising steam and pumping cylinders having their pistons connected by a common rod, an inertia weight supported for independent reciprocation between the cylinders and connected with the piston rod for movement thereby, buffer members secured to the weight, coeacting fixed buifer members adjacent the cylinders to retard the weight when it exceeds its normal movement, movable cylinder heads within the steam cylinder spaced from the ends thereof, and steam connections entering the spaces between the movable and iiXed cylinder heads at a point just inside of the edge of the movable heads when in their normal or most inward position, so that the initial movement of the head will cut off the steam and check movement of the piston through compression of the steam in the said 3 5 spaces.

8. A steam pump comprising cylinders, pistons therein, a piston rod connecting the pistons, an inertia weight connected to and actuated by the piston rod, a steam cylinder having in the ends thereof inner yieldable cylinder heads, the piston rod passing through one of said heads, said head being formed with a sleeve passing through a bore in the iiXed cylinder head, packing between said sleeve and the liXed cylinder head, and packing between the piston rod and said sleeve.

9. A steam pump, comprising two cylinders in a horizontal alinement, pistons therein, a piston rod connecting the pistons, an inertia weight intermediate the pistons and through which the piston rod passes, a track for supporting the weight, buffer members secured to the weight, co-acting buffer members iXed in position to co-act with said buffer members when the piston exceeds its normal stroke, yielding cylinder heads within the steam cylinder with spaces between the yielding heads, and the lined heads and steam connections to said spaces, said steam connection entering the cylinder at such a point that the initial movement of the yieldable heads will cut off the steam from the spaces between the liXed and the yieldable heads.

KENNEDY 'DoUGAn Witnesses:

S. SHUFELDT, K. M. IMBoDEN.

Copies oi this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patenta Washington, D. G.

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